Germany put four past a lacklustre Sweden in the first match of this year’s World Cup round of 16.
The German’s have never failed to make the quarter-final stage of the tournament and sealed their place in the 2015 edition thanks to goals from Anja Mittag, Celia Sasic (2) and Dzsenifer Marozsan.
They will now likely meet France in the next round unless Le Blues fail to beat underdogs South Korea on Sunday.
Germany should have been two up in the first 5 minutes, as a long ball straight from kick off caught out the Swedish defence and found Alexandra Popp unmarked in the box, but the forward blasted her effort high and wide.
Simone Laudehr then also got an opportunity but her effort was blocked by Swedish goalkeeper Hedvig Lindahl who dived at the midfielder’s feet to get just enough on the ball to hold it up and allow her defenders to get back and clear the danger.
Still, the world’s number one side only needed 24 minutes to take the lead, Sweden giving the ball away carelessly in their own half allowing the ever dangerous Mittag to pounce. The Paris Saint-Germain striker went on to play a clever one-two with Sasic before unleashing a shot on the edge of the area that found the bottom corner, providing her 5th goal of the tournament so far.
The same two players were then involved again in doubling Germany’s lead as Amanda Ilestedt conceded a soft penalty following a nothing challenge on Mittag who went down in the box despite the little to no contact. Sasic then stepped up to calmly strike the ball low in to the bottom corner leaving Lindahl with no chance even if she had guessed the right way.
Sweden managed only one shot on target in the first 45 minutes in what was a poor half for them, Sofia Jakobsson’s long range effort getting a deflection which took all the sting out of the strike and left Nadine Angerer with an easy save.
However they did have a golden opportunity to get themselves back in the game with one minute to go before the break. Lotta Schelin’s deep cross from the right found Jakobsson at the back post but the forward headed over from a few yards out when she really should have scored. Some, however, may say the miss was justified, as the Swedish number 10 looked to be offside.
The second half was much of the same as Germany dominated proceedings, both in terms of possession and goal-mouth action.
Popp should have done better with her header after getting on the end of a pinpoint delivery from Lena Goessling, after a looping cross from Tabea Kemme had flicked off the top of the crossbar minutes after the restart.
A clever backheel from Therese Sjogran then nearly played in Jakobsson in what was a rare Swedish second-half attack, before the Germans piled on the pressure going close through Marozsan, Sasic and Popp once more.
The goal Germany had been threatening then finally came in the 78th minute, when Sasic headed in from close range after Laudehr’s effort hit the post. But their resolute defence was penetrated with ten minutes to go when an excellent Sjogran free kick was powerfully headed in by the unmarked Linda Sembrant to give Sweden a consolation.
Jakobsson then could have really given the German’s a scare when she was presented with a golden opportunity to make it 3-2 not long after, but she couldn’t convert despite having just Angerer left to beat, the German goalkeeper making herself big and blocking the Swedish striker’s toe poke low to the ground.
Marozsan then put the game indefinitely beyond the Scandinavian side’s reach, stretching for the ball on the edge of the area and looping it in to the top corner with not a single yellow shirt around her to provide any form of challenge.
A dominant performance for Germany see’s them quite rightly remain the favourites to win the coveted trophy although they will have to play their forthcoming quarterfinal without Saskia Bartusiak who picked up her second yellow card of the tournament in the first half, resulting in a one-match ban for the defender.
